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NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
The announcement of the host city for the 2016 Arctic Winter Games (AWG) has some in the NWT sporting community surprised and upset.

NWT's Madison Pilling of Fort Simpson in heat action at the Arctic Winter Games in Whitehorse, Yukon in March, 2012. It was announced on Sept. 14 that speedskating will not be a part of the 2016 Arctic Winter Games in Nuuk, Greenland due to lack of facilities. - NNSL file photo

Arctic Winter Games International Committee (AWGIC) president Gerry Thick announced on Sept. 14 that Nuuk, Greenland, will be the host city for the 2016 Games. Also announced was the elimination of five sporting events: gymnastics, dog mushing, curling, speedskating and figure skating.

The removal of these sports from the Games are due to a lack of facilities, manpower, and, in one instance, the expertise to host them in Nuuk.

"Greenland's bid to host the 2016 Games did not include dog mushing because no foreign dogs are allowed into the country," Thick stated in an e-mail. "I'll not give you exact specific reasons for them not including gymnastics but some of them are gymnastics is not a sport participated in Greenland, lack of facility, equipment and available expertise, and volunteers to run the sport in Greenland."

Grant Beck, executive board member of the Dog Trotters Association and the NWT Dog Sled Association, is disappointed by the decision to eliminate mushing from the Games.

"I think it's sad because dog mushing is part of the North, Alaska, Russia, it's a part of every area we're on, so it's sad it's been eliminated," said Beck. "It's a very popular event and each Winter Games it's popular so it's sad that they don't have it."

Beck, whose family has been mushing for five generations, was part of the association that was instrumental in bringing dog mushing to the Arctic Winter Games.

Beck speculated that one of the reasons for the dog ban might be the fear of spreading rabies among the dogs. He said that rabies within the mushing community hasn't been an issue for years.

"They're a little bit behind if that is the case," said Beck.

"I think the kids will be upset about (not being in the Games) because they look forward to it every year. I think (Greenland) should have known that (they couldn't allow dogs into their country) before they got into the Arctic Winter Games," said Beck.

In 2002, Nuuk and Iqaluit split the Games, leading Iqaluit to construct the Arctic Winter Games Arena. Taking this into consideration, Nuuk's Games organizers decided to use the arena under a special contracting arrangement in order to keep hockey in the Games.

"It was decided after 2002 (when Nuuk and Iqaluit co-hosted the AWG) that there wouldn't be another split Games and that all the athletes had to be in the unit where the Games were held and (that host cities) could use satellite (locations to host part of the Games if facilities were not available)," said Thick, noting the cost of splitting the Games was a factor in this decision.

Les Skinner, an Inuvik hockey coach and vice-president of Hockey NWT, said he knew Iqaluit was hosting hockey for the Games but was surprised to hear the other sports were eliminated.

"I'm not really all that impressed," said Skinner. "It takes away the opportunity for those kids where it's their last kick at the Games, especially someone who is 15-years old who won't have a chance to participate at the 2016 Games. ... I'm really not happy that midget will not be held.

"To me the AWG holds two responsibilities. One is the opportunity for the different international communities to get together in a sport friendly way and two, it should help promote sports in games, like hockey."

The elimination of these sports has not gone unnoticed by others in the NWT sporting community.

"The elimination of speed skating from AWG 2016 is of great concern to the NWT Amateur Speed Skating Association (NWTASSA)," stated Pam Dunbar, president of the association, in an e-mail.

"The AWG are a very important sport development opportunity for many sports including speed skating because they provide a chance for kids to experience a relatively high level of competition and, often, a first taste of international competition."

Dunbar said the NWTASSA is already discussing how to "minimize the impact" of the loss by substituting an alternate event in order to keep skaters in competition.

"Developmental opportunities of this magnitude are few and far between in the north, and all affected jurisdictions are concerned about the impact skipping a year will have on up and coming athletes of AWG age," stated Dunbar.

Another change to the 2016 Games will be the reduction of categories for each sport to a maximum of two divisions, therefore reducing the number of athletes. The only sports not affected by the reduction will be cross country skiing and soccer. Thick stated the organization wanted to keep the intermediate female category for indoor soccer, so as to keep a balance between genders. As for cross country skiing, Thick said Greenland was logistically able to host all the categories in the sport but that "sometime in future we may reduce it, but for now we'll leave it (as it is)."

One of the sports facing the reduction is hockey, which will only have bantam male and open female under-22 lineups at the games.

Back in 2008, the AWGIC agreed to reduce the number of categories and began the reduction process in 2012. The 2016 Games will see a reduction of about 300 participants, as each territory can only send 306 athletes and coaches, bringing the Games participant total to about 1,700, compared to the 2,000 athletes and coaches at the 2012 Games in Whitehorse. Thick projected the 2014 Games will host about 1,900 attendees.

"We wanted to reduce the pressure on facilities and keep numbers down. We're limited in numbers and our government wanted to ensure that smaller communities can still host the Games and carry the expense," said Thick.

The NWT won 116 medals at this year's Games, 37 of which are in speedskating, four in dog mushing, two in curling, four in figure skating and two in gymnastics. By eliminating the five events, NWT medal haul would go down by almost half.

Whether the five sporting events will return for the 2018 Games depends on the facilities in the future host city.

The AWGIC's six partners host the Games in a 12-year cycle. The 2014 Games in Fairbanks, Alaska, will be the first time the city has hosted the event since 1988, but the third time it has been a host city.

Nuuk is the capital city of Greenland with 16,000 citizens. It has the largest and fastest growing population of any city in Greenland.

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